For the silver taxi, the cyclists were perfectly happy to undertake with that level of room, so it's fairly reasonable that the taxi should feel they can overtake with the same level of room

This is completely flawed logic. Buffalo points out one reason why:

Quote:

Originally Posted by buffalo

Note the relative speeds though. When the cyclists undertake, the taxi is barely moving. When he overtakes, he has picked up a fair bit of speed. This makes his manoeuvre more dangerous. Also, taxi drivers are professional drivers too.

But it's not just the matter of relative speed - it is the relative risk. When a car overtakes a cyclist, if something goes wrong, the risk of serious injury to the cyclist is significant. When a cyclist undertakes a car, the risk of serious injury to the car driver is zero, and the risk of serious damage to the car is tiny.

It's not a tit-for-tat situation. When cars are overtaking cyclists, they need to give room.

I'm probably a bit more confrontational than Deadly, and a bit more sensationalist, so I'm probably going to get even more shtick. There is a broader objective going on here - I believe that by making drivers aware of the risk that their driving behaviour may be named-and-shamed, then driving habits will improve. Most driving risks are taking by unaccompanied drivers in my experience. Most of us drive better if we have our Mammy or partner or kids keeping an eagle eye on us. By creating a situation where more drivers realise that their driving habits may well be displayed to the world, and in serious cases, handed over to the Gardai, driving habits will improve.

But if any really, really dislikes my channel, there is an easy solution - don't press the Play button.

... Note the relative speeds though. When the cyclists undertake, the taxi is barely moving. When he overtakes, he has picked up a fair bit of speed. This makes his manoeuvre more dangerous ...

But it's not just the matter of relative speed - it is the relative risk. When a car overtakes a cyclist, if something goes wrong, the risk of serious injury to the cyclist is significant. When a cyclist undertakes a car, the risk of serious injury to the car driver is zero, and the risk of serious damage to the car is tiny.

It's not a tit-for-tat situation. When cars are overtaking cyclists, they need to give room.

+1

Another point is that the cyclist knows exactly how far they are from a car at all times. In contrast, a driver's perspective is a good few feet to the right and occluded by bits of car even before they reach the cyclist. Having said this, I think we need to be very wary passing cars at close quarters in cases where they may be about to move off, acccelerate or change their position in the road in any way (not just turn at a junction).